Junior Assistant (Accounts) common mistakes
Junior Assistant (Accounts) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Recording a cash purchase of office stationery by debiting the expense account and also debiting Cash, instead of crediting Cash, so the trial balance is forced to balance by fudging another line.
Candidates memorise 'debit the receiver, credit the giver' as a slogan but cannot map it onto the modern rule set (debit increases assets and expenses, credit increases liabilities, income and capital), so they lose track of which side Cash sits on when the payment side is not the focus of the question.
What to do instead
Before writing any entry, state the two accounts affected and classify each as asset, liability, capital, income or expense. Apply 'debit the increase in asset/expense, credit the increase in liability/income/capital' mechanically, then check that total debits equal total credits for that one entry before moving on. Drill twenty random everyday transactions this way until the classification step becomes automatic.
Treating a bank reconciliation difference as an error in the cash book and passing a correction entry for outstanding cheques or deposits in transit, which then double-counts the item in the next month.
Candidates conflate two different lists: items that require an adjustment in the cash book (bank charges, interest, direct debits, dishonoured cheques) and items that only appear in the reconciliation statement (unpresented cheques, uncredited deposits, errors by the bank). The exam wording rarely says explicitly which list an item belongs to.
What to do instead
Learn the two-column decision rule: if the item is already known to the business but not yet in the cash book, adjust the cash book; if it is known to the bank but not yet reflected at the bank, put it in the reconciliation statement only. Practise by sorting a mixed list of ten items into 'cash book adjustment' and 'reconciliation only' before doing any arithmetic.
Computing depreciation or closing stock adjustments and then preparing the final accounts from the unadjusted trial balance, leaving the depreciation charge out of the profit and loss account and the accumulated depreciation out of the balance sheet.
Adjustment entries are taught as a separate chapter, so candidates solve the adjustment in isolation and never carry it through to the financial statements. Under time pressure they also skip the adjusted trial balance step entirely.
What to do instead
Always build a small adjustment working table with three columns: effect on profit, effect on assets, effect on liabilities. Post each adjustment into that table before touching the final accounts, then transfer the totals. Verify with the accounting equation (assets = liabilities + capital + profit) after every adjustment.
Mixing up the due dates and the return-filing deadlines for GST and TDS, for example filing the monthly return by the payment date or quoting the wrong period on a challan.
The two obligations run on different clocks and the dates shift with the turnover slab and the assessee category. Candidates memorise a single date from a coaching handout and apply it to every scenario in the paper.
What to do instead
Build a one-page date matrix with rows for each obligation (GST monthly return, GST annual return, TDS deposit, TDS quarterly return, income tax return) and columns for the applicable category. Reconstruct the matrix from first principles each time you revise, and answer date questions by naming the category first, then reading the date off your own matrix.
Confusing the input tax credit available on a purchase with the output tax payable on a sale, and netting them in the wrong direction so the tax liability is understated or a refund is claimed where tax is due.
Both figures sit in the same GST ledger and both are 'tax', so candidates treat them as interchangeable. The direction of the flow (credit on inward supply versus debit on outward supply) is the only distinguishing feature and it is easy to lose in a long computation.
What to do instead
Write every GST computation in a fixed two-block layout: outward supplies and output tax on the left, inward supplies and eligible input credit on the right, with ineligible credit listed separately and never netted. Compute net liability as output minus eligible input only, and state in one line why each blocked credit was excluded.
Describing audit procedures in vague terms such as 'check the accounts properly' or 'verify all documents' instead of naming a specific procedure (vouching, physical verification, confirmation, analytical review) and the assertion it addresses.
Candidates learn audit as a narrative subject and revise by reading, not by practising written answers. They have never been asked to link a procedure to an assertion, so the vocabulary stays passive.
What to do instead
For each major assertion (existence, completeness, valuation, rights and obligations, presentation) write one procedure and one piece of evidence it produces. In the exam, answer every 'what should the auditor do' question in the pattern: name the procedure, state the document or source checked, state the assertion covered. Keep a personal list of ten procedures and reuse them.
Classifying a cost as fixed when it is semi-variable, or treating a sunk cost as relevant, and then choosing the wrong option in a make-or-buy or accept-or-reject decision.
Candidates memorise definitions of fixed and variable cost but never test a cost against activity levels. Decision questions are answered by intuition about what 'feels' relevant rather than by the incremental-cash-flow test.
What to do instead
Before any decision question, list every cost mentioned and tag it fixed, variable or semi-variable by asking 'does it change if volume changes?'. Then cross out sunk costs and allocated common fixed costs explicitly, and compute contribution and incremental cost only for the remaining items. Show the crossed-out items in your working so the marker sees the reasoning.
Calculating an average, ratio or percentage without checking whether the question asks for a simple, weighted or moving average, and reporting a raw figure where the question asks for a rate per annum.
Business mathematics is revised as formula recall, so candidates grab the first formula that looks familiar. They also skip unit conversion, mixing months and years or rupees and lakhs inside one calculation.
What to do instead
Underline the exact quantity requested and its unit before computing. Write the formula, then substitute with units shown at every step, and convert all inputs to one unit first. For averages, decide between simple and weighted by checking whether the items carry different frequencies or values, and state that choice in one line.
In accounting software questions, describing the menu path for entering a transaction but omitting the effect on the ledger and the need to verify the voucher before posting, so a wrong entry gets posted and later reversed by a journal instead of corrected at source.
Software is studied as a set of screens rather than as a bookkeeping tool, so candidates do not connect the data-entry step to the accounting entries it generates. They also assume software prevents errors, when it only prevents unbalanced entries.
What to do instead
For each common voucher type (payment, receipt, sales, purchase, journal) learn three things: which ledgers it debits and credits, which field controls the tax treatment, and how to view the resulting ledger. Practise one full cycle from voucher entry to trial balance in a demo company, and always state the ledger effect alongside the menu path in written answers.
Answering general awareness and current affairs items from stale memory, and writing English answers in long unstructured paragraphs with spelling and agreement errors that cost marks even when the content is right.
These two sections are treated as low-effort fillers and revised last, so candidates rely on year-old current affairs notes and never practise timed writing. In the communication section they also misread the register, using informal phrasing in a formal letter or report.
What to do instead
Keep a rolling one-page current affairs sheet updated monthly with banking, tax and economy items only, and revise it weekly. For English, practise one formal letter, one report and one precis per week under a timer, then proofread against a fixed checklist (subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, spelling of technical terms, one idea per paragraph). Read the question twice to identify the required register before writing.